A national first: Sebastopol picks pot dispensary owner as mayor

Here’s another marijuana-in-politics first: A marijuana activist is now mayor of a city.

This week, the Sebastopol City Council selected Robert Jacob — the founder and executive director of Peace in Medicine, two licensed medical marijuana dispensaries — as its mayor. He is believed to be the first dispensary operator to serve in an elected official capacity in local, state or federal government.

It’s hardly a surprise in town, where Jacob began serving on the city’s Planning Commission in 2011, then was elected to City Council in 2012. He was its vice mayor before getting the top job this week.

Jacob has worked to create statewide dispensary regulations as well as help craft local rules in Napa, Sacramento, San Jose, and Stockton. The North Bay Business Journal included Jacob in its annual listing of “Forty Under 40″ heavy hitters in 2012. He manages 40 full-time employees who serve 16,000 patients at his dispensaries.

“My life has been about service,” Jacob said in a statement. “By addressing social problems such as homelessness, HIV/AIDS and access to medical cannabis, we can shape a better world for ourselves.”

Medical marijuana advocates are thrilled, seeing Jacob’s mayoralty as another step on the road to greater public acceptance.

“This historic, unprecedented vote in Sebastopol illustrates that the medical marijuana community has political strength and the influence to elect advocates to public office,” said Don Duncan, California director of Americans for Safe Access, the country’s largest medical marijuana advocacy group. “Although medical marijuana enjoys the support of 80 percent of Americans, Jacob’s election as mayor of Sebastopol brings additional legitimacy to the patient community.”